Whatever The Weather
by PlanetHannah
Summary: Rigby is determined to prove to Benson and Mordecai that if he is fully focused, he can work hard and get the job done. No pairings. Drags on for a bit but meh, what you gonna do


The cool breeze was relaxing and refreshing for the blue jay on the boiling hot spring day. He shuffled slightly into a more comfortable position against the tree that he was lying against with Rigby, and sighed happily as he gazed up at the sky. He loved this feeling.

"Dude! You're elbowing me in the ribs man!" His best friend complained, with no real anger, as he attempted to shove Mordecai over.

"Sorry dude" Mordecai mumbled, before moving away from Rigby slightly and continuing to relax. There was something in the back of his mind that was bugging him though, something telling him that he had something to do...

"Crap! Dude! We're supposed to be at the park meeting! Come on, let's go!" He announced suddenly, jumping up like lightning as soon as he remembered. Rigby swore under his breath, but followed Mordecai as the duo ran towards the house as if being chased by a herd of elephants. It was hard for the blue jay to keep pace with the speedy raccoon, who ran at twice his speed as he bolted ahead on all fours, occasionally slowing to allow his best friend to catch up. After a long, tiresome and frantic run, the slackers arrived at the house. Skips flashed them a look of disapproval, while Muscle Man shot a smug glance. High Five Ghost hovered next to the obese man, with the same look on his face he always had. Pops giggled and waved at them, welcoming them with the total opposite attitude than that of their boss. Benson looked more like an angry lion right now than a gumball machine, and turned on the duo as they tried to pass him to take their seats on the steps.

"I'm glad you finally decided to show up!" he barked. "If your thick skulls cannot remember what I said only yesterday, I pacifically told you idiots to get to the meeting on time, as we don't have a lot of it to spare."

"Sorry Benson" Mordecai and Rigby said in union, looking very un-apologetic. Mordecai considered, and would have took the opportunity to jinx Rigby, but considering the gumball machines mood at the current time, he let it slide. Benson grunted, and watched them as they took their seats.

"Now that dumb and dumber have kindly decided to join us" Benson said, still staring at the offended blue jay, and the raccoon who was paying no attention to Benson's speech "I can give you the news. Ok, so you all know, I'm sure, that Mr. Maellard, often pays us surprise visits now and again." He paused to allow the employees to nod "But this time, Mr. Maellard has informed me of the visit, well… more of the inspection." Mordecai and Rigby exchanged a glance of bordem "So anyway, he's coming down tomorrow to see how things are going. We need to really impress him, otherwise, certain employees could be getting fired." He finished with a glare at Mordecai and Rigby.

"So, what? We just have to impress him and work hard and that's it?" Mordecai asked.

"Well, yeah. But Maellard's strict with this sorta thing, and will not take lightly to certain slackers who can't even finish a single job! You two idiots really have to work hard tomorrow, he's been doing inspections of other parks this week, and we need to make sure he approves of this one too."

Rigby yawned. Benson shot him a glare. "I mean it Rigby, you two aren't going to mess this up. You're going to focus on your jobs, and no matter what distractions face you, you're going to impress Mr. Maellard. Got it?"

"Yeah" Rigby said, his voice thick with boredom.

"Well alright, everyone get back to work, remember what I said about tomorrow" He finished, dismissing all of the park members. "Ah, not you two" Mordecai spun around as Benson spoke.

"What?"

"I forgot to mention, tomorrow, you guys aren't working together. I can't trust you idiots to get a job done by yourselves. I think you will focus more on your work if you do it seperatley. I'm setting this as a test. I want to see how well the two of you work individually, and if you can't even do that, then _I _will fire you, not Maellard." Benson warned, staring in particular at Rigby.

"Sure, we can do that" Mordecai said.

Rigby looked lazily up at his boss "Whatever" he said, breaking into yet another yawn, confirming to Benson that the raccoon was not taking this seriously. The gumball machine towered over the smaller mammal, who attempted to stare him out but Mordecai noticed he did flinch a little.

"I will be watching you tomorrow Rigby, I'll make sure you're working." Benson warned him, his eyes cold. With that, he walked away.

"Ha ha dude, not only have you got Maellard on your back tomorrow, you'll have Benson watching you like a hawk"

Rigby shrugged "Back at ya" Before Mordecai could reply to the snide remark, Rigby headed off to the house. Mordecai hung back a little, watching his best friend climb the staircase. He sighed. Rigby was not at all taking this seriously. Sure, he though Benson was bluffing with his threat, which he probably was, but Maellard wouldn't be.

_If he sees Rigby slacking off as usual tomorrow, he'll be sure to fire him. What will Rigby do then? No one else will hire him…_

Mordecai shook the thought away. Rigby would try working harder tomorrow, once he realised that this time, his job really was on the line. Right? Mordecai shook the thought away and followed the lazy coon back to the house.

* * *

Rigby flicked through the channels of the TV distractedly, waiting for Mordecai. What was taking him so long? The raccoon continued to search for something to watch, and when realising there was nothing on, he got up from the settee. Mordecai came in at that moment, eyeing Rigby with concern, as if he was suddenly going to faint. Rigby shot him a puzzled look.

"Wanna play Strong Johns?" he asked the blue jay, hoping to change the unspoken subject.

Distracted, or so it seemed, Mordecai nodded "Sure" and the two took their places back on the couch and played the game. Neither spoke for a long while, both in deep concentration of the game. Rigby shot a look at Mordecai. The blue jay didn't seem as engaged in the game as usual, normally he would have made a sarcastic comment about Rigby's gaming skills, but he was silent, not at all as focused on the game as Rigby, but still beating him. Rigby was annoyed for a moment, but then paused the game. "What's up man?"

Mordecai looked at Rigby. He got straight to the point. "Will you actually try hard tomorrow and not slack off?" he asked Rigby, almost pleadingly.

Rigby was taken back. He thought Mordecai's concern was over Margaret or something. "Course dude" he replied.

"I mean it Rigby, I know Benson's a bit of a pushover-" Mordecai quickly scanned the area to check Benson was not around "But Maellard will be sure to fire you if he sees you slacking off."

"I know, I know!" Rigby huffed, agitated with the little trust his best friend had with him. He'd never seen him so serious over work before. "I'll focus tomorrow, I promise. I do realise what the concequences are yanno"

Mordecai still seemed a little distant. "Good" he said, a little calmer. "Just you can't afford to lose this job-"

"I know!" Rigby repeated forcefully. "It's only one day, besides it's not like he's gonna be watching me all day" he objected, but noticing the look Mordecai gave him, continued. "I won't slack off dude"

Mordecai smiled "Awesome"

* * *

Benson woke up from his dreamless sleep readily, not feeling tired at all. He turned to the alarm clock, which read " 5:43" and realised how early it was and that he had plenty of time. He wasn't at all in the mood for sleeping, so instead got up and made himself breakfast. He still had a feeling of foreboding for Maellard's inspection today, as the last few inspections the park had only just scraped a 'pass'. This was the fault of two slackers, of course, Mordecai and Rigby.

Benson sighed. He knew Mordecai could do a good job if he didn't follow Rigby. He knew that Mordecai had taken in what Benson said yesterday, and he was quite confident that alone, Mordecai would not be a problem. It was his smaller, more dim-witted companion, Rigby, who was the problem. Benson had considered firing the lazy raccoon on countless occasions, and on some occasions had actually fired him (before re-hiring him of course). He just couldn't bring himself to fire him. He was a well-liked member of the park, and also part of the family. Benson cringed at how cheesy that sounded, but he couldn't deny it was true.

_I'll make sure he's working today. _

* * *

Rigby was nudged awake, as usual, by Mordecai; Rigby was a light sleeper, and heard the alarm, but chose to ignore it and continue living in his dream world. In his crazy dream, he vividly remembered being in an ice cream shop, and faintly remembered something about a vampire accusing him of stealing his motorcycle. He shook the dream away and went with Mordecai for breakfast. He was surprised to see Benson sitting there. Normally, he didn't join them for breakfast.

"Morning Benson." Mordecai and Rigby said in union, and he detected the confusion in Mordecai's tone as well. He guessed he was thinking the same thing.

"Good morning" he said, stirring a cup of coffee. "I'm not here for breakfast" Benson said, answering Rigby's unasked question. "I just came to talk to you two."

"Oh ok"

"What about?" Rigby asked, watching Benson remove the spoon for the cup and put it on the table.

"Today" Benson replied. " I just read the paper before work this morning, and Maellard was in a small part of it. He's saying how he will be making some changes to not just our park, but the other ones he's inspecting, if he finds them 'inadequate'"

Rigby rolled his eyes. He knew what was coming. "So?"

"So" Benson took a second to take a sip of the coffee, and then put it back down on the table and looked up at Rigby "We need to make sure he doesn't change _our_ park, Rigby. We have to make sure he's impressed-"

"Jeez Benson we get it! Impress Maellard, work hard, yes we get it! Don't you trust us at all to work hard for a day?" Rigby shouted, his frustration getting the better of him and not at all scared of his boss. He could feel Mordecai's eyes burning in at him with disapproving look. He had expected Benson to be yelling back by now, but instead, he gazed at Rigby, his face expressionless.

"I hope you're right, Rigby" Benson sighed, before grabbing his coffee and standing up. As he got to the door, he turned round, and looked at the duo. "I'm counting on you" He said before leaving the room.

Mordecai shook his head. "Dude, Benson's really serious about this. We really do need to take this seriously. You need to focus on-"

"Doesn't anybody trust me to not slack off? I thought my own best friend would have a little faith in me, I might not focus on work all the time, but neither do you! I don't get on at you for it though, cos I believe that you will actually work hard today! I wish you would believe that I will too!" Rigby snarled, anger, once again, getting the best of him.

"I didn't mean it like-"

Rigby shook his head. He _would_ work hard today. He'd show them. He'd show them all.

He realized he hadn't been listening to a work Mordecai had just said. Wow, maybe he didn't focus often. "Ok, sorry" Rigby said, hoping he'd said something that would fit in with what Mordecai had just said. Mordecai seemed satisfied with that at least.

"It's ok" Mordecai said, pouring cereal into a bowl for himself and going to the fridge for milk. Rigby didn't feel hungry, but poured a little cereal into the bowl anyway to give him some energy for the day. Mordecai returned with the milk, poured it into his own bowl and then into Rigby's. They began to eat, as the rest of the park workers came in the kitchen.

"Sup ladies" Muscle Man greeted, as he sat at the table. HFG hovered next to him. Skips and Pops took seats opposite.

"I'm so excited for my father to come to the park again today!" Pops giggled enthusiastically. Unfortunately, no one could agree with the eager lollipop man, so smiled warmly in return.

"The weather isn't looking to good today" Skips stated, changing the subject while looking out the window. Rigby noticed the yeti was right. Dark grey clouds painted the dull sky, and even Rigby was clever enough to realise that it would probably rain today.

"Aw man" Mordecai said glumly. "This day just keeps getting sooo much better." He said sarcastically.

Rigby sunk into his seat. The rain downed his mood futher, but he was still as determined as before to prove to Mordecai and Benson that he would work hard today, whatever the weather.


End file.
